Initcalls, the mechanism


The simple solution is defining a special ELF section
Every driver defines a structure in that ELF section
The linker builds an array for us
The linker script provides the usual names for begin and end


Considering the linking mechanism, this is what happens
Each object files has code and data section
It may also have an init section

Then, if the linker finds an unresolved symbol in this object file
It picks the whole file for the final link
Eventually, it may discard unused sections (--gc-sections)